Five challenges facing managers in mid-2024

So this fact might surprise you: many workers don’t want to take that step. According to a recent survey, an impressive 34% of employees say they never want to take on a managerial role.

Why? Well, being a manager is a tough job — and it’s only getting tougher. So much tougher, in fact, that one in four managers admit they’re completely miserable at work. 

Wondering why a management position has become so undesirable? These top five management challenges offer some insight into why these higher-ranking roles have transformed from a long-held desire to a point of dread.

1. Overwhelming workloads and unrealistic expectations

With worker stress at an all-time high, burnout has been an ongoing topic of conversation for the past several years. Managers often carry the burden of preventing, recognizing, and addressing burnout on their teams. But managers themselves are already spread thin and spinning their wheels.

In fact, according to research from Gallup, burnout (along with greater stress, worse work-life balance, and decreased physical well-being) is worse among managers than among the people they oversee. In separate research from Harvard Business Review, an alarming 53% of managers say they’re burned out at work.

Most managers are saddled with towering workloads and unrealistic expectations that show no signs of relenting. In one survey, 39% of managers said pressure from leadership has increased since the year before. And, according to data from Culture Amp, all of the major management drawbacks managers reported relate to their workloads, hours, and lack of work-life balance.

2. Widespread team burnout

Managers are drained and depleted — but their teams are too. In 2022, 48% of employees admitted they were burned out at work. By 2023, a whopping 65% of employees said they suffered from burnout that year.

Supervisors are responsible for recognizing these issues and quickly righting the ship. And that usually involves a direct and candid conversation with the people they manage. When 70% of employees admit they avoid challenging discussions at work, the onus is on managers to proactively address the topic and offer a solution.

All too often, the solution directly translates to more work or responsibility for the manager. And when employee engagement, productivity, accuracy, and performance drop due to ongoing burnout, executive leadership applies more pressure and higher targets — and the vicious cycle continues.

Also read: What is the biggest HR challenge now? We asked 10 HR experts

3. Emerging technology

You can’t go far without hearing some mention of AI and its potential impact on the workplace. While the majority of workers are optimistic about the future of AI at work, managers face a unique challenge related to technological advancements: getting senior leaders onboard.

64% of managers agree that senior leaders are slow to embrace emerging technologies. So, even if the manager and direct reports are excited about the potential of a tool or solution, it’s an uphill battle to get company leadership bought in.

If and when they do make it over that hurdle, introducing new tech (even when it’s welcomed or shows promise) is still a change — and it’s a well-known fact that change is hard. That’s particularly true when AI optimism is balanced with a hefty amount of skepticism and fear among workers. Those are concerns that many managers feel ill-prepared to address.

AI holds the possibility of alleviating some of the other struggles of modern management, such as streamlining collaboration or automating time-sucking tasks. But to get there, managers need to sell upper management on the promise of new technology and then smoothly roll it out for their teams — and that’s a hefty responsibility piled on top of a workload that already feels unmanageable. 

4. Remote and hybrid work arrangements

Remote or hybrid work arrangements — where employees can divide their time between home and the office — are more common than ever before. According to one recent survey, 33% of respondents work entirely remotely while another 33% work in a hybrid setting.

Overseeing a distributed team introduces new challenges for managers, from maintaining a connected and positive team culture to getting the necessary visibility into employee contributions and performance. 85% of leaders say the shift to hybrid work has made it challenging to feel confident that employees are being productive.

Adding fuel to the fire, managers don’t feel like they’ve been given the necessary education and resources to help them lead their teams in the “new” world of work. An alarming 70% of managers have received no training about how to successfully lead a hybrid team.

It leaves them feeling like they’re left to fend for themselves — while still carrying all of the accountability for their team’s performance and output.

5. Lack of training and resources

Finally, managers aren’t just missing out on training about managing remote teams — they’re missing out on training in general. A whopping 82% of bosses have received no formal leadership training and are nothing more than “accidental managers.”

And their direct reports take notice. According to a survey from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM):

• 57% of workers believe managers in their workplace could benefit from training on how to be better people managers

• 84% of workers say poorly trained managers create a lot of unnecessary work and stress

Leadership is a skill in and of itself. Without the resources and foundational knowledge to refine that skill, managers (and their teams) struggle.

Mending the modern manager experience

The success of any organization hinges on its people — and that includes solid and skilled managers. Unfortunately, the modern manager’s experience is ripe with challenges.

Those bumps not only deter existing employees from wanting to join the management ranks but also make your existing managers more likely to hit the road. As Gallup research shows, when managers’ satisfaction declines, their intent to leave rises. 

It begs the question: What can you do? You can start by focusing on the manager experience with the same amount of strategy and intention you dedicate to the overall employee experience. Try rolling out some targeted initiatives, such as:

• Soliciting regular feedback from managers about their workloads, expectations, training, and other challenges
  
• Scheduling frequent manager meetings where supervisors can connect and support each other
  
• Offering training and skill development opportunities geared specifically toward managers

None of those efforts are a particularly heavy lift but they can go a long way in helping your managers feel seen and supported.